god is commonly represented as a handsome youth, wearing the Phrygian cap and attire, and kneeling on a bull, whose throat he is cutting. Mithras. MITHRIDATES (-is), the name of several kings of Pontus, of whom the best known is Mithridates VI., surnamed the Great, and celebrated on account of his wars with the Romans. He reigned .c. 120-63. He was a man of great energy and ability; and so powerful was his memory that he is said to have learned not less than 25 languages. Having greatly extended his empire in the early part of his reign by the conquest of the neighboring nations, he at length ventured to measure his strength with Rome. The 1st Mithridatic war lasted from B.C. SS to 84. At first he met with great success. He drove Ariobarzanes out of Cappadocia, and Nicomedes out of Bithynia, both of whom had been previously expelled by him, but restored by the Romans; and he at last made himself master of the Roman province of Asia. During the winter he ordered all the Roman and Italian citizens in Asia to be massacred; and on one day no fewer than 80,000 Romans and Italians are said to have perished. Meantime Sulla had received the command of the war against Mithridates, and crossed over into Greece in 87. Archelaus, the general of Mithridates, was twice defeated by Sulla in Boeotia (86); and about the same time the MOABITIS. king himself was defeated in Asia by Fimbria. [FIMBRIA.] Mithridates now sued for peace, which was granted him by Sulla in 84. The 2d Mithridatic war (R. C. 83-82) was caused by the unprovoked attacks of Murena, who had been left in command of Asia by Sulla. Murena invaded the dominions of Mithridates, but was defeated by the latter, and was ordered by Sulla to desist from hostilities. The 3d Mithridatic war was the most important of the three. It lasted from B.C. 74 to the king's death in 63. It broke out in consequence of the king seizing Bithynia, which had been left by Nicomedes III. to the Roman people. The consul Lucullus was ap pointed to the command, and conducted it with great success. In B.o. 73 he relieved Cyzicus, which was besieged by Mithridates, and in the course of the next two years drove the king out of Pontus, and compelled him to flee to his son-in-law, Tigranes, the king of Armenia. The latter espoused the cause of his father-in-law; whereupon Lucullus marched into Armenia, and defeated Tigranes and Mithridates in two battles, B. c. 69 and 68. But in consequence of the mutiny of his sollus could not follow up his conquests; and diers, who demanded to be led home, LuculMithridates recovered Pontus. In B.o. 66 Lucullus was succeeded in the command by Pompey. Mithridates was defeated by Pompey; and as Tigranes now refused to admit him into his dominions, he marched into Colchis, and thence made his way to Panticapaeum, the capital of the Cimmerian Bosporus. Here he conceived the daring project of marching round the N. and W. coasts of the Euxine, through the wild tribes of the Sarmatians and Getae, and of invading Italy at the head of these nations. But meanwhile disaffection had made rapid progress among his followers. His son, Pharnaces, at length openly rebelled against him, and was joined by the whole army, and the citizens of Panticapaeum, who proclaimed him king. Mithridates, resolved not to fall into the hands of the Romans, put an end to his own life, R.C. 63, at the age of 68 or 69, after a reign of 57 years. MITHRIDATES, kings of Parthia. [A SACES, 6, 9, 13.] MITYLENE. [MYTILENE.] MNEMOSYNE ter of Uranus (-es), i. e. Memory, daugh(Heaven), and mother of the Muses by Zeus (Jupiter). MNESTHEUS (-či or ei), a Trojan, who accompanied Aeneas to Italy, and is said to have been the ancestral hero of the Memmii. MOABITIS, called MOAB in the Old Testament, a district of Arabia Petraea, E. of the Dead Sea. The Moabites were frequently at war with the Israelites. They were con MOERIS. quered by David, but they afterwards recovered their independence. MOERIS (-idis), a king of Egypt, who is said to have dug the great lake known by his name; but it is really natural, and not an artificial lake. It is on the W. side of the Nile, in Middle Egypt, and used for the reception and subsequent distribution of a part of the overflow of the Nile. called after their mother, Molione. They are also called Actoridae or Actorrone ('AKTopiove), after their reputed father Actor, the husband of Molione. They are mentioned as conquerors of Nestor in the chariot race, and as having taken part in the Calydonian hunt. Having come to the assistance of Augeas against Hercules, they were slain by the latter. MOLOSSI (-ōrum), a people in Epirus, inMOESIA (-ae), a country of Europe, was habiting a narrow slip of country, called after bounded on the S. by Thrace and Macedonia, them MOLOSSIA or MoLossis, which extended on the W. by Illyricum and Pannonia, on the along the W. bank of the Arachthus as far as N. by the Danube, and on the E. by the Pon- the Ambracian gulf. They were the most tus Euxinus, thus corresponding to the pres-powerful people in Epirus, and their kings ent Servia and Bulgaria. This country was gradually extended their dominion over the subdued in the reign of Augustus, and was whole of the country. The first of their kings, made a Roman province at the commencewho took the title of king of Epirus, was ment of the reign of Tiberius. It was after- Alexander, who perished in Italy B.C. 326. wards formed into 2 provinces, called Moesia [EPIRUS.] Their capital was AMBRACIA. The Superior and Moesia Inferior, the former be- Molossian hounds were celebrated in aning the western, and the latter the eastern tiquity. half of the country. When Aurelian surrendered Dacia to the barbarians, and removed the inhabitants of that province to the S. of the Danube, the middle part of Moesia was called Dacia Aureliani. MOGONTIACUM, MOGUNTIACUM, or MAGONTIACUM (i: Mainz or Mayence), a town on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite the mouth of the river Moenus (Main). MOIRAE, called PARCAE (-arum) by the Romans, the Fates, were 3 in number, viz., CLOTHO, or the spinning fate; LACHESIS, or the one who assigns to man his fate; and ATROPOS, or the fate that can not be avoided. Sometimes they appear as divinities of fate in the strict sense of the term, and sometimes only as allegorical divinities of the duration of human life. In the former character they take care that the fate assigned to every be ing by eternal laws may take its course without obstruction; and both gods and men must submit to them. These grave and mighty goddesses were represented by the earliest artists with staffs or sceptres, the symbol of dominion. The Moirae, as the divinities of the duration of human life, which is determined by the two points of birth and death, are conceived either as goddesses of birth or as goddesses of death. The distribution of the functions among the 3 was not strictly observed, for we sometimes find all 3 described as spinning the thread of life, although this was properly the function of Clotho alone. Hence Clotho, and sometimes the other fates, are represented with a spindle: and they are said to break or cut off the thread when life is to end. The poets sometimes describe them as aged and hideous women, and even as lame, to indicate the slow march of fate; but in works of art they are represented as grave maidens, with different attributes, viz., Clotho with a spindle or a roll (the book of fate); Lachesis pointing with a staff to the globe; and Atropos with a pair of scales, or a sun-dial, or a cutting in strument. MOLYCRIUM (-i), a town in the S. of Aetolia, at the entrance of the Corinthian gulf._ MOMUS (-i), the god of mockery and censure, called by Hesiod the son of Night. Thus he is said to have censured in the man formed by Hephaestus (Vulcan) that a little door had not been left in his breast, so as to enable one to look into his secret thoughts. MONA (-ae: Anglesey), an island off the coast of the Ordovices in Britain, one of the describes this island as half way between chief seats of the Druids. Caesar erroneously Britannia and Hibernia. Hence it has been supposed by some critics that the Mona of Caesar is the Isle of Man; but it is more probable, on account of the celebrity of Mona in connection with the Druids, that he had heard of Anglesey, and that he received a false report respecting its real position. MONAESES (-is), a Parthian general mentioned by Horace, probably the same as Surenas, the general of Orodes, who defeated Crassus. MONETA (-ae), a surname of Juno among Moneta. the Romans as the protectress of money. Under this name she had a temple on the Capitoline, which was at the same time the public mint. MONOECI PORTUS, also HERCULIS MONOECI PORTUS (Monaco), a port-town on the coast of Liguria, founded by the Massil ians, was situated on a promontory (hence the arx Monoeci of Virgil), and possessed a temple of Hercules Monoecus, from whom the place derived its name." MOLIONE. [MOLIONES.] MOPSIA or MOPSŎPIA, an ancient name MOLIONES (-um) or MŎLIONIDAE of Attica, whence Mopsõprus is frequently (-arum), that is, Eurytus and Cteatus, 80 used by the poets as equivalent to Athenian. MOPSÜESTIA (-ae), an important city of Cilicia, on both banks of the river Pyr amus. MOPSUS (-i). (1) Son of Ampyx and the nymph Chloris, the prophet and soothsayer of the Argonauts, died in Libya of the bite of a snake.-(2) Son of Apollo and Manto, the daughter of Tiresias, and also a celebrated seer. He contended in prophecy with Calchas at Colophon, and showed himself superior to the latter in prophetic power. [CALCHAS.] He was believed to have founded Mallos in Cilicia, in conjunction with the seer Amphilochus. A dispute arose between the two seers respecting the possession of the town, and both fell in combat by each other's hand. MORGETES. [MORGANTIUM.] MORINI (-ōrum), the most N.-ly people in all Gaul, whence Virgil calls them extremi hominum. They dwelt on the coast, at the narrowest part of the channel between Gaul and Britain. MORPHEUS (-čos, či, or el), the son of Sleep and the god of dreams. The name signifies the fashioner or moulder, because he shaped or formed the dreams which appeared to the sleeper. MORS (-tis), called THĂNĂTOS by the Greeks, the god of death, is represented as a son of Night and a brother of Sleep. MOSA (-ae: Maas or Meuse), a river in Gallia Belgica, rising in Mount Vogesus, and falling into the Vahalis or W. branch of the Rhine. MOSCHI (-ōrum), a people of Asia, dwelling in the S. Part of Colchis. MOSCHUS (-i), of Syracuse, a bucolic There are 4 of poet, lived about 1.0. 250. idyls extant, usually printed with those of BION. MOSELLA (-ae: Mosel, Moselle), a river in Gallia Belgica, rising in Mount Vogesus, and falling into the Rhine at Confluentes (Coblenz). MOSTENI (-ōrum), a city of Lydia, S.E. of Thyatira. MOSYNOECI (-ōrum), a barbarous people on the N. coast of Asia Minor, in Pontus, so called from the conical wooden houses in which they dwelt. MÕTÜCA (-ae), a town in the S. of Sicily, W. of the promontory Pachynus. The inhabitants were called Mutycenses. MOTYA (-ne), an ancient town in the N.W. of Sicily, situated on a small island near the coast, with which it was connected by a mole. It was founded by the Phoenicians, and next MUSAE. belonged to the Carthaginians, who transplanted its inhabitants to the town of Lilybaeum, B. c. 397. MUCIUS SCAEVOLA. [SCAEVOLA.] MULCIBER (-bri), a surname of Vulcan, which seems to have been given him as a euphemism, that he might not consume the habitations of men, but might kindly aid them in their pursuits. MULUCHA (-ae), a river in the N. of Africa, rising in the Atlas, and forming the boundary between Mauretania and Numidia. MUMMIUS (-i), L., consul B.c. 146, won for himself the surname of Achaicus by the conquest of Greece and the establishment of the Roman province of Achaia. After defeating the army of the Achaean League at the Isthmus of Corinth, he entered Corinth without opposition, and razed it to the ground. [CORINTHUS.] He was censor in 142 with Scipio Africanus the younger. MUNATIUS PLANCUS. [PLANOUS.] MUNDA (-ae), a town in Hispania Baetica, celebrated on account of the victory of Julius Caesar over the sons of Pompey, B.C. 45. MÜNÝCHĨA (-ae), the smallest and the most E.-ly of the 3 harbors of Athens. The poets use Munychian in the sense of Athenian. MURCIA, MURTEA, or MURTIA (-ae), a surname of Venus at Rome, where she had a chapel in the circus, with a statue. This surname, which is said to be the same as Myrtea (from myrtus, a myrtle), was believed to indicate the fondness of the goddess for the myrtle-tree. MURENA (-ae), which signifies a lamprey, was the name of a family in the Licinia gens, of whom the most important were: (1) L. LICINIUS MURENA, who was left by Sulla as propraetor in Asia, B.C. 84, and was the cause of the 2d Mithridatic war.-(2) L. LICINIUS MURENA, Son of the former, consul B.c. 63, was accused of bribery, and defended by Cicero in an extant oration. MURGANTIA. [MORGANTIUM.] MUSA (-ae), ANTŌNĬUS, a celebrated physician at Rome, was brother to Euphorbus, the physician to king Juba, and was himself the physician to the emperor Augustus. He had been originally a slave. MUSAE (-arum), the Muses, were, according to the earliest writers, the inspiring goddesses of song, and, according to later notions, divinities presiding over the different kinds of poetry, and over the arts and sciences. They are usually represented as the daughters of Zens (Jupiter) and Mnemosyne, and born in Pieria, at the foot of Mount Olympus. Their original number appears to have been 3; but afterwards they are always spoken of as 9 in number. Their names and attributes were: 1. Cho, the Muse of history, represented in a sitting or standing attitude, with an open roll of paper or chest of books. 2. Euterpe, the Muse of lyric poetry, with a tragic mask, the club of Hercules, or a sword: flute. 4. Melpomene, the Muse of tragedy, with a her head is surrounded with vine-leaves, and she wears the cothurnus. Euterpe, the Muse of Lyric Poetry. (From a Statue in the Vatican.) 3. Thalia, the Muse of comedy, and of merry or idyllic poetry, appears with a comic mask, a shepherd's staff, or a wreath of ivy. Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy. (From a Statue in the Vatican.) 5. Terpsichore, the Muse of choral dance and song, appears with the lyre and the plectrum. |